of Montreal
Paralytic Stalks
Release Date: Feb 7th, 2012
Label: Polyvinyl Records
At the very core of an album review is the examination
of the choices made by the artist or band. When an artist makes art of any kind, they’re forced to make
countless creative decisions, some small, some significant, until they have a
final product that fans and critics can put under the microscope. of Montreal is no different, but
they’ve always been a tough band to pin down and critique because over their
eleven full-length LP career, their artistic choices have evolved album to
album. On top of that, most of
their albums, including their newest release, Paralytic Stalks, layer hundreds
of choices on top of each other, making it nearly impossible to separate the
pleasurable moments from the ones a critic or fan might disagree with.
The biggest problem with Paralytic Stalks is that very few
listeners will like the album on a first or second listen. It’s packed with complicated lyrical
content, songs that turn on themselves within seconds of turning on themselves,
and long, experimental orchestral sections that may cause fatigue at the end of
the record. It’s a difficult, some
might say problematic listen. And
yet, as you continue to explore Paralytic Stalks, if you choose to do so, these
“problems” slowly become the most appealing aspects of the album.
On Paralytic Stalks, Barnes delivers some of the best vocal
moments in his eleven-album career.
He’s aggressive and expressive; angry bites blend with supreme
confidence and conviction in each line he delivers. Barnes slips in and out of gentle steadiness (perhaps best displayed
on “Malefic Dowery”) and controlled madness (exemplified in album closer
“Authentic Pyrrhic Remission”) in a way that’s nothing short of
impressive. There are times when
Barnes is so invested in delivering his message that his voice consumes itself,
only to have a new vocal section burst out and take over.
Choices.
Hundreds of choices. It’s
easy for me to pick out the ones that Barnes made on Paralytic Stalks that put
a bad taste in my mouth. The
underwater-sounding spoken word section that kicks off the record gave me
horrible flashbacks to the dull spoken sections of thecontrollersphere. The experimental track “Exorcismic
Breeding Knife” is extremely testing and seems to draw out for longer than what
is manageable. Yeah, two complaints about Barnes’ choices. The album has
hundreds of them.
If I can pass on one main thought about Paralytic Stalks, it
would be that Barnes has created an album that will be perfect to nobody. He plays with so many different
sensibilities and throws so many songwriting curveballs – any type of listener
will find both moments of enjoyment and moments of irritation to match. I find this fascinating because aside
from the general consensuses that “Exorcismic Breeding Knife” is longwinded,
critics and fans have clashing ideas of what the high and low points of the
album are.
And yet Paralytic Stalks is anything but thematically
disjointed. The whole album is Barnes smashing his brain against the general
concept of humanity and the difficult questions of life that don’t have
answers. He is frustrated that he
has so many complaints and so few solutions, and offers wry commentary on
complaining about such complaints.
Paralytic Stalks is an album that lives in that strange moment where
humans become grandiose in their own thoughts. We’ve all had times where we’ve blurred our surroundings and
contemplated life and its complications, only to snap out of the trance and
return to routine until that next moment of impossible examination. Barnes lives in moments like these
throughout Paralytic Stalks and if you join him it can be uncomfortable,
demanding, intense, and extremely rewarding.
Nice review.
ReplyDeleteNot saying its wrong or right, but this is the first review that touched on my thoughts with this record.
ReplyDeleteThis is the best Paralytic Stalks review I've read yet. You get what I get.
ReplyDeleteLol.
ReplyDelete